National Clothesline

Most women say they read care labels at least some of the time, and over one-third in a recent survey said they always do.

In the survey, conducted by the Cotton Incorporated Lifestyle Monitor, 37 percent of women claimed they always read care labels, an additional 20 percent said they usually check and another 29 percent said they sometimes read them.

That’s likely because they want to keep the garment looking fresh, neat, and as good as the day that they bought it, surmises Norma Keyes, director of fiber quality research at Cotton Incorporated. “Women want value from their garments, and the best way to get the most for their money is to care for clothing properly,” she shares.

In a report on the survey published in Women’s Wear Daily, Alan Spielvogel of the National Cleaners Association said the findings make sense.

“Women have an investment in their wardrobes. Taking care of a garment lengthens its lifespan.”

Finding the proper care method was given as the reason for reading labels by 39 percent of women in the Monitor’s survey. An additional 32 percent cited protecting the garment from shrinkage.

“Women want to ensure that their apparel fits and wears as well as the first day they wore it,” Keyes says.

“Women need to assess what’s best for their garments on a case-by-case basis, and the label establishes the appropriate level of care,” Spielvogel said. “It depends on the garment and wearing conditions.”

How to care for an item, drycleaning or otherwise, is not likely to deter women from making a purchase, Cotton Inc. reported. Kim Johnson, principal of Johnson, a boutique on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, noted, “I’ve never had a customer not buy something because of the specific care instructions.”

Adds New York-based fashion publicist, Maren Roth, “If I like something, I’m going to buy it regardless of whether it needs be hand washed, machine washed or drycleaned. The bottom line for me is what I like, not what is convenient.”

But labels exist also to establish fabric content, Keyes added. “Care and content labels are particularly important when women are looking for natural fibers like cotton,” she said.

Statistics from the Monitor say that 58 percent of women in 2003 were willing to pay more for a natural fiber.

For many women, however, it’s not what’s in a garment but what is not. In 2003, 57 percent of women told the Monitor that they avoided particular fabrics — primarily wool and polyester, at 33 percent and 28 percent respectively. Comfort — or rather discomfort — was the key reason cited by respondents

Says Cotton Incorporated’s Keyes, “The hand, the weave and the weight of a fabric has to feel good to the touch, but it also has to feel good when the garment is placed on the body. It’s about how it wears and allows for movement, as much as it is about looking good.”

Older consumers are more likely to heed the labels. According to the Monitor, women who claimed to always follow care label instructions in apparel increased considerably by age category. In 2003, 28 percent of women ages 16 to 24 said that they always followed care instructions, as compared to 39 percent among those 25 to 34, 51 percent from 35 to 55, and 59 percent among those between the ages of 55 to 70.